


A Little Less Lonely Together

by inthedrift



Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: 28 Days Later!AU, Alternate Universe, And isn’t graphic, Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Herc dies, M/M, but isn’t a major character, its a set up for angst, zombie!au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-26
Updated: 2019-03-26
Packaged: 2019-12-18 03:37:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18241598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inthedrift/pseuds/inthedrift
Summary: The apocalypse doesn't grind to a halt to allow you to grieve.





	A Little Less Lonely Together

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Skysoblue](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skysoblue/gifts).



> For the prompt "They're Monsters" 
> 
> Requested by Skysoblue in the PacRim Discord 
> 
> I'm so so sorry what this came out like, I'm not an angsty person I promise

Raleigh was tugging at Chuck’s arm, the panic that was threatening to overwhelm him was only just kept at bay by the knowledge that if he let it consume him they’d both be dead within minutes.

Chuck stood, frozen, staring at the convulsing figure of what moments ago had been his father. 

“Chuck, we have to go.” 

Raleigh tried to keep his voice low, steady, so as not to startle Chuck or any of the bodies that were in various throes of movement.

“I can’t leave him, Raleigh, he’s my dad.” 

Chuck’s voice sounded small and distant, Raleigh couldn’t afford to look at him though, couldn’t afford to comfort him. 

They had to get moving. Had to leave before they became infected too. 

“Chuck,” Raleigh didn’t want to be harsh, he knew how hard this was. 

He was the person to kill his own brother after all. To fire a bullet straight through his only living family’s skull. 

But it hadn’t been Yancy, not anymore. Not since the first drop of Kaiju Blue had splattered against his face. 

Because the moment it hit him, he began to convulse, half collapsing to the floor with the violence of it. 

And when he stopped, those cold, dead, unnaturally bright, blue eyes had turned upon Raleigh and he knew. 

Yancy Becket was gone. 

“Chuck,” the tone was much more forceful now, they had moments before it was too late, before there would be no escape. 

“He’s not your father anymore. He’s not anyone anymore. He’s just like the rest of them now. They’re monsters.” 

Chuck flinched in Raleigh’s grip, the stark reality of the situation finally hitting home, because there was nothing he could do, he could only run or watch. 

“Chuck, please.” Raleigh begged, “we have to go. He wouldn’t want you to become one of them. You can’t help him now.” 

Chuck sagged, allowing Raleigh to pull him quickly and quietly away from the crowd of bodies. 

They made it several hundred meters away from the main room, then Raleigh broke into a quick run. 

Chuck followed, his breathing in sync and his footfalls just as soft and quiet, neither of them wanted to draw attention. 

~~~~~

Things shouldn’t have happened like this, they were on a simple scouting mission. Go out collect some food and essentials, come back home. 

But things had gone horribly wrong. 

The “Rangers” - that’s what the Shatterdome called them - had been ambushed, the Kaiju were getting smarter, no longer just the mindless hordes that the infection began with.

The Wei’s and Kaidonovskys were the first to be ambushed, Raleigh and the Hansen’s had heard it over the radio. Listened as Sasha bellowed orders and heard the gunfire as the five of them tried desperately to escape. 

Then they were ambushed as well, a smaller group but just as deadly. 

Raleigh and Chuck managed to slip free of their touches, but Herc - who was still recovering from his injured shoulder from their last scouting mission - hadn’t managed to twist free and both boys witnessed as the hoard closed around him. 

The Kaiju were far more interested in the fresh meat in their grasps than the two men that had slipped away. 

~~~~~

Raleigh kept hoping and praying that the hoard wouldn’t follow. 

The two of them wouldn’t be able to fight their way free of this one, even if they’d been at full capacity, laden with weapons and Chuck in peak form they’d have died. 

As it was, they had a rifle and two handguns between them. Casting occasional glances at the younger man, Raleigh could see that he was barely holding himself together. 

Raleigh sent a silent thanks to whatever sick and twisted deity may happen to still reside over this shithole of a world, when they arrived back at the gates of the Shatterdome, unfollowed and physically unharmed. 

Stacker Pentecost, the Marshal of the Shatterdome, one of the few remaining safe havens this side of the country, called the two men into his office the moment they were cleared at the gates. 

“What happened?” his tone was even, but the steel running through it was lessened, Raleigh could see how shaken the man was by the size of the returning party. 

Chuck collapsed into the nearest chair the moment they stepped into the room, and was staring unblinking at the far wall. 

Raleigh knew that the younger Ranger was fast approaching breaking point and needed to get the debrief over with and the Australian away from the rest of the Shatterdome before it hit. 

“We were ambushed sir. It was almost like they knew we were coming, knew how we’d split up, knew where to concentrate their strongest forces.” 

Stacker’s eyes were practically boring into the blond, his expression one of disbelief. 

“What do you mean, Ranger?” 

Raleigh bit back the snappy response, he didn’t have time for Stacker to rip him a new one. He’d lost friends today, but right now he needed to get this packed away and to be able to focus on the rapidly crumbling redhead

“They’re getting smarter Marshal, they know things they shouldn’t. We lost six good Rangers today and by rights when we shouldn’t have lost a single one. We did everything by the book.” 

Stacker looked ready to push, but Raleigh could see the weariness on the older man’s face. 

It had been a poorly kept, but never discussed secret that the Marshal and the elder Hansen were more than just old friends. 

Raleigh knew that this would need discussing in great depth, but the look the Marshal shot towards Chuck told him that it wouldn’t be now. 

“You’re dismissed Rangers” 

As Raleigh moved from the chair he’d been perched in towards the still motionless form of Chuck Hansen and helped him up and back towards the corridor, he caught glimpse of Stacker. 

His shoulders were slumped and he looked like the world was weighing him down. 

~~~~~

Raleigh managed to half carry, half man-handle the younger man through the corridors, operating more on autopilot than anything else. 

When he reached the bunk door, he managed to support Chuck with his right arm, while opening the door and dragging him inside. 

He got Chuck seated on the edge of the bed, before the kid began to suck in great heaving breaths and the tears began to fall. 

Raleigh pulled Chuck’s and then his own boots off, before crawling up onto the bed next to the sobbing man. 

He settled himself behind the kid and pulled him tightly against his chest. 

Chuck turned around in his arms until his head was resting against Raleigh’s shoulder and the tears flowed even faster. 

Raleigh could feel the wet patch soaking into the t-shirt, and all he could do was hold his partner as he cried. 

Because, he knew there was nothing he could say, nothing that could make this better, nothing that would fix this wound. 

Because, Chuck was the last Hansen and Raleigh knew exactly what it felt like to be the only one left. 

When the younger man finally wore himself out and eventually passed into a light and troubled sleep, Raleigh did the only thing he could do, curled up around his boyfriend and made sure that he would be there when he woke up.


End file.
